


sweet disposition

by miss_coverly



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Established Relationship, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Kissing, Kyoru Week 2020, Manga Spoilers, Mutual Pining, Oneshot Prompts Challenge, Post-Canon, Romance, Teasing, rated T bc i am me and who knows how spicy this will end up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 08:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26848876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_coverly/pseuds/miss_coverly
Summary: What it means to stay by someone's side, from beginning to end, and everything in between.
Relationships: Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou
Comments: 59
Kudos: 125





	1. birth of a wish

**Author's Note:**

> i've never really participated in a ship week before, so here's to hoping i'll be able to keep up every day! based on the kyoru week 2020 prompts on tumblr. title is a [temper trap](https://open.spotify.com/track/5RoIXwyTCdyUjpMMkk4uPd) song. enjoy!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompt: my wish.

The first New Years that Kyo spends with her, he doesn't wish for anything.

There's something he wants, sure: to beat Yuki in a fight. That's what he thinks about as he watches the sunrise from the rooftop, anyway. The sky turns from black to blue, mixes purple and orange and yellow. It lights up the city on the horizon, an entire world in front of him, but the wind whips at his cheeks from this high up—and he shouts what he wants so that everyone knows. So that he doesn't forget.

But it doesn't sit the right way in his chest, the way he thinks a wish is supposed to.

He watches her out of the corner of his eye. She clasps her hands in front of her chest, eyes closed and _smiling_ —and Kyo decides that a wish must be something good. Something that makes you happy. That's what she makes it look like, at least.

Beating Yuki will fix everything. (Beating Yuki won't make him happy.)

That's the year Kyo decides he doesn't like New Years that much, and that he likes wishes even less.

* * *

He walks into the kitchen the next morning, and she's there.

"Good morning, Kyo-kun!" she says brightly. She's chopping vegetables, hair spilling out of her braids. "I'm surprised you're awake so early."

Kyo shrugs, avoiding her eyes as he grabs the milk carton from the fridge. "Didn't want to sleep all day."

"That makes sense," she laughs, even though it wasn't funny. "I thought I'd be more tired, but I guess the excitement of the new year woke me up!"

"Probably," he says. He sticks to the edge of the room so that he doesn't have to brush past her, accidentally touch her, even look at her. Being alone with her makes everything better and worse, so he heads into the living room and plops down in front of the TV.

He flips through the channels aimlessly, but the sound of the TV is nothing compared to the sound of her slicing and dicing, of her knife meeting her cutting board in a steady rhythm, of her absentmindedly humming a bit out-of-tune. The smell of leeks is pungent—but he's gotten used to it, ever since she moved in, so it's not too bad as long as he doesn't have to eat them.

"Hey, Kyo-kun?"

He pauses. "What?" He doesn't turn around to look at her.

"Um, well… I was just wondering what you wished for last night."

He leans his elbows against the kotatsu. "Aren't you not supposed to ask?"

"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or pry." He hears her set down her knife, and then she's hurrying into the living room and standing next to him. "I have an idea! I'll tell you what I wished for first, if you want."

"That's not what I meant, I just." He sees her in his periphery, tries to focus on her pink socks and not on her face. "It won't come true if you tell someone, right? So you shouldn't tell me."

"Oh… you're probably right." She nods dutifully, then giggles. "I guess we shouldn't talk about them, then. I want mine to come true, and yours, too!"

"Well, I didn't wish for anything."

"Really?"

"Yeah. What's the point? It's not like they come true." Kyo looks up at her, and he immediately regrets it, because looking at her smile makes him feel odd—so looking at her now, her brows upturned and her eyes sad, just makes him feel awful. "I mean… I just don't believe in that sort of thing."

_It's never worked before._

"Right... I understand." She smiles at him, and it doesn't quite reach her eyes. She walks back to the kitchen and continues chopping. Her humming doesn't start again.

He feels like shit.

"Yours will probably work," he says, eyes still fixed on the TV. "Like I said, just don't tell anyone what it is, okay?"

And it's so stupid to think that he can _hear_ her start to smile again, but he swears he does in that moment.

"I won't, Kyo-kun! I promise."

And even though Kyo still doesn't believe in wishes, he thinks he might have one this year. Even if he doesn't quite understand it.

* * *

Kyo finds her on the roof, and it strikes him that it always used to be the other way around. Anytime he ran away, she found him up here. She's always chased after him, talked him off the ledge, brought him home.

He wonders what Tohru is running from tonight. (He ignores that he might already know.)

She came home covered in dirt, saying very little as she made dinner, as she ate, as she excused herself after cleaning up because she didn't feel well.

Tohru never says what she means, and Kyo's gotten used to that; he likes to think he's picked up on an unspoken language. Her little movements, changes in her eyes, which smiles are fake. He knows what to say to get her to open up, and he knows when she's ready to actually do that, too.

Tonight, he doesn't know what she wants when she starts crying. The best he can do is try to wipe away her tears. Even that feels like a little more than he has any right to do.

"What do you wish for, Kyo-kun?"

And it's not even New Years, and he doesn't understand why she would talk about wishes right now, not when she's upset and he's confused and she won't tell him the truth and he can't do anything about it—

"For someone to quit crying," he says.

He means it. That's far more important than any wish he might have tonight.

* * *

New Years comes along again, and it's the second one that he spends with Tohru.

"What are you going to wish for on your first shrine visit of the new year, Kyo-kun?"

He laughs. "If I tell you mine, you gotta tell me yours."

Her eyes go wide. "That's right! Sorry, never mind!"

Kyo thinks it's maybe the first year he's ever had a wish he could put into words.

He watches Tohru as her eyes drift around the room, probably spacing out. She sits with her hands folded neatly in her lap. Her hair ribbons are new and pressed for the special occasion. She turns to him suddenly, her hair and ribbons both whipping around with her.

"Maybe we can come to Shishou's for next New Years, too!" she says. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

_Their last New Years together._

"I'm sure he'd like that." Kyo reaches out and grabs one of her ribbons, gently tugging at it. "If you're not careful, you're gonna hit someone with one of these, too."

Tohru giggles. "You're only worried about that because you think _you'll_ get hit. You're too slow to dodge them, Kyo-kun."

"Yeah, you wish, idiot," he says, and it only makes her laugh harder.

He has a wish, but that doesn't mean there's any chance of it coming true. Doesn't mean he _wants_ it to come true.

It doesn't mean he believes in them now.

He's just an idiot.

* * *

Their first New Years out of Shigure's house, Kyo reaches out a hand to Tohru and helps her up onto their new roof. It's not as big as Shigure's, and it definitely has never been used as an inhabitable spot, either. It's slanted at a steeper angle, and Tohru clutches onto Kyo's sleeve as they decide where to sit.

The sky is clear, though, and the sun is bright as it rises in front of them. They're together, so it feels like home.

"Kyo-kun?"

"Yeah?"

She takes his hand in her own. "Would you tell me your wish this year?"

" _Tohru_ ," he chides, making up for all the days that he wouldn't say it. "We've been over this. You can't tell anyone your wish if you want it to come true."

"I _know_ , I know. But I still wonder every year."

Kyo raps his fist gently against her forehead. "Well, I told you a long time ago, I don't believe in that sort of thing."

"If you say so," Tohru laughs.

She leans over and kisses him, and as the sky turns kaleidoscopic, he wonders what he could possibly have to wish for this year, what more he could possibly want when he has this now. When he has Tohru by his side.

He pulls away finally, and then he kisses her on the cheek. "Maybe there's one thing I can think of," he says. "I'm not telling you, though."

She beams at him. "I'll just have to guess, then!"

"Good luck with that."

Kyo wishes for this to never end. This time, he thinks his luck might hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m on [tumblr](https://lesbian-kyoru.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/miss_coverly)!!
> 
> link if you’d like to [reblog](https://lesbian-kyoru.tumblr.com/post/631192484823908352/sweet-disposition-chapter-1-misscoverly)


	2. 'cause you are more than just a dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a bit nsfw because it is. about wet dreams lmfao. nothing incredibly detailed or graphic, but putting the warning here in case that's not anyone's cup of tea and you'd like to just skip over this chapter!! <3
> 
> title from out of my league by fitz and the tantrums. prompt: dream.

_Oh fuck oh shit oh fuck shit shit shit oh fuck—_

So, Kyo wakes up busting a nut.

That's just the first thing he realizes, though, since it's kind of impossible to ignore. The longer he's conscious, he also becomes aware of his heaving chest. He feels sweaty, like he's trapped inside his futon. His face is burning—actually, it's pretty much his entire body. He can't calm down, and he feels really good but also really awful and he's not sure why, and disjointed images flash behind his eyes fast enough to make him dizzy.

And he's hard as shit. And there's an absolute fucking mess in his boxers.

Oh. _Oh._

Kyo's world starts to make a bit more sense.

He feels disgusting, so he gets up as quickly as he can and grabs a fresh change of clothes. He's quiet as he walks downstairs, and he's glad that it's way before dawn—so there's no one to run into on his way to the shower.

He cleans himself up, but it doesn't erase the memory _that's not even a memory_ from his brain. He tries to clean his boxers too, but in the end he shoves them into the wastebin and decides that's the last time he's going to think about it.

_Her leading him into her room—_

— _the moonlight hitting her dress as he pulls it over her head—_

— _her sucking his dick—_

Okay, so that's definitely not the last time he's going to think about it.

" _Shit_ ," he mutters, because his bedroom door creaks as he opens it and because of literally everything else, too. He lays back down on top of his futon—he thinks the fabric might suffocate him if he crawls back inside. An hour goes by. He stares up at his ceiling and doesn't go back to sleep.

He tries to tell himself he doesn't remember the dream, but he sees her later that morning, and he's reminded that that's a big lie.

"Oh, hi, Kyo-kun!"

Kyo flushes hot the second she starts talking to him. He keeps a wide berth, but he can't _not_ look at her. She's right there. She's _always_ there. He can't ever seem to get away from her, and he's only lived here a few weeks and always says the wrong things to her, and maybe he doesn't need to get away from her _all_ the time, but after his dream—

"Morning," he mutters.

_Why did he have such a weird dream about her to begin with what the actual fuck—_

"Did you sleep well?" And there are the ends of her brown hair, her tiny hands, the small of her back, the bottom hem of her skirt.

"Yeah," Kyo says. He opens the fridge and grabs the milk carton, not trusting himself to stomach anything else. "What, did you not or something?"

Her eyes go wide. "Oh, no! I just thought I heard you walking around the house earlier, so I was—"

He slams the fridge door. "Just had to piss," he blurts out, panicked.

"Oh," she says. "That makes sense." She laughs awkwardly, a blush creeping up her cheeks, but it can't be worse than his already burning face.

"I'm gonna… go now," he says, and if he thought meeting her eyes was difficult, then his gaze involuntarily flitting down to her mouth is actual torture.

"Oh, okay. Well, see you at school!" she chirps as he walks out the door, waving halfheartedly over his shoulder. He feels guilty about his dream, sure—but that's nothing compared to the pure confusion whirling around in his head.

Her? And _that?_

Whatever the reason, he just hopes it never happens again. (It happens again.)

* * *

Tohru wakes up laying face first on her bed, shaking and breathing heavily. It's funny, though, because even though she's waking up, the rest of her body feels like it woke up a while ago.

She feels warm, almost too warm, and light and honestly really good and—

Oh. And she's wet between her legs, too.

 _Oh._ Oh. Okay.

Tohru rolls over onto her back, trying to slow her breathing. Logically, she knows what happened. It's fine. It's normal, not something she has control over anyway. Maybe she's just… on edge with rehearsals and everything else going on. She's just a little bit stressed out, is all. And her subconscious is playing tricks on her. She needs to get ready for school, so she quickly gets out of bed without a second thought.

It's fine. Completely _normal_ , not anything to be embarrassed about. Not her fault.

It's _fine._

The dream itself, though, is starting to come back to her the longer she's awake.

She can't quite remember everything about it. But she _does_ remember being pinned down by hands much bigger than her own. She remembers someone kneeling between her legs and it feeling _really good._ She remembers amber eyes and orange hair—

Tohru flushes crimson while looking at herself in the mirror. She pulls out the ribbon she just finished tying into her hair, frustrated with herself for a million different reasons. She finishes buttoning up her uniform, walks down the stairs and starts making breakfast as quickly as possible.

That last part isn't fine at all. That's something to be embarrassed about.

That's her fault.

"Tohru?"

She nearly drops the entire carton of eggs when she hears Kyo's voice, and the package of rice she's holding does actually hit the floor. She stoops down to pick it up, avoiding his eyes for as long as possible.

"Good morning, K-Kyo-kun!" she stammers. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," he says. "Need any help with that?"

Tohru stands back up, the eggs and rice clutched to her chest. And she meets his eyes, and she swears her entire face heats up instantly. And maybe she's always been aware that Kyo is… _handsome_. But now it's not just an obvious fact, now it's something that's right in front of her and won't leave her alone and she doesn't know what to do about it—

"Oh, that's really kind of you," she says way too loudly, "but don't worry, I've got it under control!" She turns around and bumps into the stove before turning it on. She hopes it'll heat up as she tries to cool down.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kyo snaps her out of her thoughts because now he's leaning over her shoulder. "If you're sick, you should stay home." It feels like he can see straight through her when he looks at her this closely. Her heart might beat out of her chest, and his breath is way too warm as it skates across her cheek—

She backs away from him instinctively, almost slamming against the wall. "I'm really not sick, I promise! I just—didn't sleep well."

"Oh," he says, like he doesn't believe her. "If you say so." He walks into the living room and sits down in front of the TV. Tohru cooks breakfast and hums to herself.

It's so silly to get so worked up over a weird dream. Kyo being in it was just a random coincidence. It probably didn't even mean anything.

She's sure she'll forget about it by the end of the day. (She doesn't forget about it.)

* * *

When Kyo slips out of the bathroom, about to head back to his room, he doesn't expect to bump directly into Tohru.

It's actually a nice reminder—just last week, it would've resulted in a puff of smoke and him dropping to the floor as a cat. But this morning, there's no curse, and all that the collision results in is her pressed to his chest for a second—and then surprised confusion.

"Oh, sorry Kyo-kun!" Tohru says, eyes wide. "I didn't know you were in there."

"Don't worry about it," Kyo says, but then he actually considers Tohru's completely flushed face, her heavy breathing, her messy hair and ruffled pajamas. She looks… well, she looks very out of sorts.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asks. He didn't think she could turn even more red, but then she _does_.

"Oh, yes! I'm... perfectly fine. Why wouldn't I be? I mean, I guess it might not seem like I am, since I'm up so early, but I really just woke up without a reason, I promise, and anyways—"

"You sure?" he cuts her off.

Tohru seems to hesitate, but then she comes closer. "I am. I promise." She leans up and quickly kisses him. "Just had a good dream." She smiles, and then she slips past him and into the bathroom.

Kyo is frozen.

_Did she mean…. Wait. Really?_

He stands in the hallway and processes her words for a long time after she leaves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so cursed i'm so sorry
> 
> link if you’d like to [reblog](https://lesbian-kyoru.tumblr.com/post/631343331946987520/sweet-disposition-chapter-2-misscoverly) <3


	3. take a bite of my heart tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pretend i'm not posting this two days late.....turns out being a starbucks barista is tiring LMFAO
> 
> title is from animal by neon trees. prompt: tease.

Kyo has a hunch about his girlfriend. It's based on a few facts:

  1. Kyo spends a lot of time with Tohru.
  2. In that time, he notices a lot of little things about her.
  3. He's really good at teasing her about those little things.
  4. He's also really good at reading Tohru.
  5. When you put all of these together, it turns out that he's _also_ really good at reading Tohru's reaction every time that he teases her.



While he stumbled upon all of this completely by accident… he thinks he might be onto something.

* * *

Kyo's little theory is born on an otherwise very normal morning in Shigure's kitchen. Normal, in that he's up early, earlier than the rest of the house—except for Tohru, who somehow falls asleep much later than he does every night, but is still always cooking breakfast by the time he walks downstairs. It's normal, except now it's a bit different because he's not cursed anymore. He's not doomed to confinement anymore.

And he's dating Tohru now. Which feels very normal in a way, but is also the furthest fucking thing from normal that he ever could've imagined.

She smiles over her shoulder and says, "Good morning, Kyo-kun!" when he walks into the kitchen, but then she quickly returns to her task at hand: vaulting up on the tips of her toes to reach the top shelf.

Kyo snorts as she hops up and down, extending her arms as far as they can go but never quite making it.

"Need some help?" he asks.

"No, I'm—almost—there—I promise," Tohru says, her words punctuated by every jump.

Kyo ignores her very reassuring words and steps closer, reaching over her head and easily grabbing the frying pan that she was trying so desperately to retrieve.

"Is it this one?" he asks, holding it in front of her. And she turns to him, eyes full of hope and adoration and maybe even a little bit of love, which makes his face heat up.

"Thank you, Kyo-kun," she sighs. "I think Yuki-kun must've put it away up there. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get it down, not with it so high up!"

"Well, it wasn't _that_ high up. You're just short." He says it offhandedly, doesn't even mean much by it. It's just a basic observation, right?

But then Tohru's brow furrows and her cheeks turn pink.

"I'm not… _that_ short," she mutters, and her pouty, flushed expression is really cute, which Kyo is just now realizing, and he also kind of wishes she'd wear it for just a little bit longer.

"Oh, you're not? Could've fooled me."

"I'm _not_." She huffs a sigh, reaching out to take the frying pan—

Kyo lifts it high above his head, and Tohru ends up grasping at thin air and nothing more.

"Kyo-kun," she whines, eyes going wide as she looks up at his hand, so far above her in the air, and then meets his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"I need that to make breakfast…"

"Oh, can you not reach it?"

"Kyo-kun, you know I can't!" And even though she tries to hold it together, Kyo can't help but chuckle too when her frown gives way to laughter. She gets up on tip-toe again, her hand on Kyo's chest to steady herself as she reaches as high as she can—this time being thwarted by a new obstacle: her boyfriend being an ass.

He wraps his free hand around Tohru and pulls her closer, pressing her to his chest and bringing her eyes back to him.

"What, have you not hit your growth spurt yet?" he asks, practically nose-to-nose with her. Her face turns a deeper shade of red, and she gives him a truly menacing glare—but the thing is that when Tohru glares, it's probably the least threatening thing in the world.

"We'll be late for school if we don't eat soon," she says, tugging at his shirt collar and quickly disarming his defenses.

"Fine, fine, I'm just kidding," Kyo teases. He releases Tohru from his hold and brings the frying pan down to a more reasonable height, which she quickly takes from him. "I'm pretty sure even Kisa could reach that shelf, so I just assumed you could too. My mistake."

" _Kyo-kun!"_ And if Kyo didn't know that Tohru is a literal angel on earth, he'd be afraid of her using the frying pan as a weapon by this point. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Then she looks at him again, suddenly perfectly sincere. "Sorry, could you speak a little louder?" she asks. "You're just _so_ tall, I can't hear you up there."

Kyo rolls his eyes and leans down, his face level with Tohru's. "I guess I can just come down here. Didn't realize that you have bad hearing _and_ you're tiny—"

And it's something else to see what he calls Tohru's _grrr face_ this close up, but that thought quickly leaves his head as she surges forward and kisses him hard. One of her hands threads up into his hair, the other awkwardly slinging around his neck even as she keeps hold of her frying pan. Her mouth is warm and hungry against his— _confident_ , not tentative at all. Kyo is frozen, absolutely braindead until she pulls away.

"I'll… let you know when breakfast is ready," she says, beet-red from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. Her eyes are wide, and she sounds breathless as she laughs awkwardly.

"Uh, okay. Okay. Sounds good."

"Okay."

Kyo is confused as he says something to her about forgetting his bag, as he heads back upstairs in a hurry. He's _very_ confused. But he also thinks he might've just discovered some new information about Tohru.

Some incredibly interesting and possibly useful information, actually.

* * *

Kyo isn't a calculated person by nature. So it's not that he's _trying_ to test this theory of his as often as possible. It just… keeps happening.

The opportunity presents itself again when they're bounding up the school stairs, hand in hand, trying to beat the first bell. Tohru stumbles, and Kyo catches her moments before she faceplants.

"Y'know, you might be the clumsiest person I've ever met," he chides, gently hauling her up so that they can continue their journey.

"Okay, I'm a little bit clumsy, but not _that_ bad!" she protests, that tell-tale blush spreading across her face.

"Says the girl who fell off a cliff." He's immediately worried that he _should not have joked about that_ —but then Tohru starts giggling loudly, putting his mind at ease.

"You might have a point, Kyo-kun," she says, tugging on his hand and pulling him to a stop. Before he knows what's happening, she brings his face down to hers and kisses him. It leaves him breathless when she pulls away.

"Come on, or we'll be late!" she says, grinning.

Kyo lets her pull him the rest of the way up the stairs, absolutely dumbstruck.

* * *

The next time he steps out onto the deck, she's hanging up laundry, and she's also wearing her hair in two pigtail braids, and all of this put together makes him feel impulsive.

Tohru squeaks when he tugs gently on one of her braids. She turns around to face him, eyes wide and cheeks flushed. He thinks it's quickly becoming his new favorite expression of Tohru's.

"Kyo-kun."

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything." He tugs her braid back and forth, watching as it pulls her head from side to side along with it.

She looks exasperated even as her lips quirk into a smile. But then she suddenly jerks her head, and her other braid whips through the air and swats at his chest. "Got you!"

"Wow, pigtails," he deadpans. "So scary."

She blushes harder, and it's not that he _enjoys_ flustering her (although he does a little bit). But it's more the strange fondness that grows in his chest every time they banter back and forth. It feels good to think she's comfortable enough with him to let her guard down. To tease him back, when with anyone else she'd be too afraid of being impolite. To just be stupid and playful with him.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," Tohru says, snaking her arms around his neck and snapping him out of his thoughts. "I didn't realize I was so intimidating."

"I've seen puppies more intimidating than you."

" _Kyo-kun!_ Really?"

Kyo snorts. "Yeah. Short, clumsy girls with pigtails don't really scare me."

Tohru pouts. "You're being rude."

But Kyo doesn't think she really means it, because then she kisses him, and he plays with the stray hairs at the nape of her neck, and they lose all track of time.

* * *

It turns out that—along with pretty much everything that comes with dating the love of his life—one of the unexpected perks is that, out of love, Kyo now gets to take the piss out of Tohru on a regular basis.

But she seems... like. Kind of into it.

It's a fact that Kyo is still trying to make sense of.

They're sitting a little too close, doing homework at the table in Tohru's room. At least, _Tohru_ is doing homework while Kyo plays with her fingers, the ones that aren't holding her pencil in a death grip and slaving over a math problem.

"Kyo-kun, I love you," she says sweetly, "but you're distracting me."

"You just get distracted by anything."

"That's not true!"

"Sure, space cadet," he says, lifting her hand up and kissing her fingers. His cheeks burn as he does it, but honestly it's nothing compared to the way her face turns scarlet.

He places her hand back down on the table as she stares at him with wide eyes. He raises an eyebrow at her. "Yeah?"

She doesn't respond, pointedly looking back down at her homework. And like he does _a lot_ whenever Tohru is involved, Kyo acts without thinking—he scoots back from the table and moves to sit behind her. He more or less pulls her into his lap with his legs on either side of her, wrapping his arms around her stomach.

"This is... not less distracting," Tohru says, voice tight.

He rests his chin on her shoulder. "Wouldn't be a problem if you just focused."

Tohru huffs a sigh, going back to scribbling on her scratch paper. "Y'know, I asked you for _help_ with this worksheet."

"I'm helping." He blows a raspberry into her neck, reducing her to giggles.

"Kyo-kun, I'm starting to think you're not a very good tutor."

"Rude," he says, pressing a soft kiss to Tohru's neck. Her breath hitches, and it makes his heart skip a beat. "Didn't think you could ever be mean to anyone." He feels her practically melt against him as he trails kisses down the slope of her shoulder, up the curve of her neck.

"You're—doing that on purpose," she says, a little breathless as he parts his lips just below her ear, swiping his tongue against her skin.

"Am I?" he says into her ear.

"I don't know when you became such a tease, Kyo-kun."

"Probably when I figured out that you liked it." He bites at the nape of her neck, and she lets out a little gasp. Finally she drops her pencil, shifting around in his lap until she's looking at him. Her face is flushed, but there's a twinkle in her dark eyes.

"What, giving up on math already?" he smirks.

She reaches up and squeezes his cheeks, fingers slender and cold and _nice_ against his face. "My boyfriend gave up on being my tutor first, actually," she says, and the word _boyfriend_ still makes him blush without his permission. "But I'll do it later."

Kyo palms at her hips. "Something else you want to do, then?" he asks, voice low. And maybe he moves her or maybe she moves or maybe it's a joint effort, but pretty soon Tohru is straddling him, a grin on her face.

"I might have an idea," she says softly, leaning in and kissing him.

Her math homework does not get done for quite a while. Kyo doesn't mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one took forever to finish and idk!! i don't know what happened here the end is sexier than i planned but. here we are LOL. hope y'all enjoyed the flirty third year shenanigans <3
> 
> link if you’d like to [reblog](https://lesbian-kyoru.tumblr.com/post/631543575632592896/sweet-disposition-chapter-3-misscoverly)


	4. and you are my everything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wouldn't it be fun if i finished all of these prompts one day.....well here is my latest attempt at doing that!!
> 
> also, listened to [...off by heart](https://open.spotify.com/track/3DHK8HX55krtGNSDMvJA7b?si=NlPzhHTjS_KeBjIgyXORfQ) by city and colour while writing this, if you'd like to listen while you read! title is from that song as well. god, the romance of it all.
> 
> prompt: lover.

" _Shit_."

Tohru opens her eyes to see Kyo flicking on his lamp. It takes his bedroom from pitch black to a warm dimness, something like the soft glow of the sunset. She wasn't asleep exactly, but the change in lighting feels a bit like waking from a dream and coming back to reality. And it's strange, because Tohru _has_ had dreams like this before, but no—she's pretty sure that it's real this time. He's here in front of her, and she's curled under the blanket of his futon, and this is _real_.

It's also real that he's currently balancing on one foot, muttering curses and clutching his knee in pain.

"Are you okay, Kyo-kun?"

"No, yeah, it was just dark," he says. "Couldn't see." He lets go of his knee and walks over to his dresser, opening it and rummaging around before he pulls out a pair of boxers.

Because he's—well, naked.

Tohru's face feels hot, heat spreading under her skin like how the sun heats up pavement. She feels like she should avert her eyes, like she's looking at him in a way that she shouldn't be. It reminds her of this time last year. Feelings she couldn't make sense of, but that nevertheless kept her eyes fixed on him—his skin slick with sweat beneath his tank top, training in the yard, or the collar of his school uniform, unbuttoned just a little too low for her to think clearly. Looking at him made her feel dizzy, and confused, and guilty most of all.

But she's allowed to look at him now. She's allowed to feel this way. Right?

Especially after tonight. It's silly to feel like she _can't_ , when they've touched and kissed and seen each other now, when they've been together so completely in the dark.

Because they're—

_What are they, exactly?_

Tohru pushes the thought away. With her mental gymnastics satisfied, she lets herself watch Kyo in the lamplight, ignoring the blush that burns her cheeks. It's not the same as looking at him in the dark, in the heat of the moment. With his boxers on now, he stoops down to his lowest drawer and pulls it open. She feels less embarrassed with him turned away—and she takes a second, tries to memorize the slope of his spine, the sharp jut of his shoulder blades, the curve of his broad shoulders and defined arms.

Looking at him like this, gentle light cutting shadows against the lines of his back—it's different than looking at him when he's in motion. He's so _still_ , so constant _._ He's here with her, and it makes her feel like she is his, like he is hers.

And that's true now, right? Because they're—

_Are they, though?_

The thought cuts itself off when Kyo turns around, arms raised as he pulls on his shirt. Her eyes go right to the front of his boxers, and it makes her feel flustered, but it makes her feel good, too. She watches as his abdomen disappears beneath his shirt, just a sliver of skin still visible below dark green—she knows that it's silly and childish, the gentle heat it floods her with, the flush on the back of her neck and at the tips of her ears. The neckline of his shirt clears his head, revealing his messy hair and soft, relaxed features.

"Kyo-kun," she says.

He glances down at her. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just… saying it, I guess."

"You're so weird," he laughs. "Do you, uh… want something to wear?"

Tohru wasn't even thinking about it, if she's being honest—but the question _does_ make her realize that she's naked, too. Her clothes are strewn around his room, cast off in the night without much thought.

"It's okay! I can just throw on what I was wearing earlier and then go get changed." She sits up, holding his blanket to cover herself.

"You can just take one of my shirts," he says, turning around and reopening his drawer. He adds awkwardly, "But you don't have to... if you don't want to. It's whatever."

"Are you sure it wouldn't be too much trouble?"

He looks over his shoulder at her, expression exasperated but also protective. _Giving._ "It's just a shirt, Tohru. I have more than one."

"Really?" she asks, grinning. "You make it seem like you only have three. Maybe four."

"Shut up."

Tohru giggles. "Well... if it's no trouble, then I'd love one. Thank you, Kyo-kun."

"What color do you want?"

"Oh, hmm." She doesn't know why the question twists something so fond inside of her. "I like the red one."

"Of course you do," Kyo snorts. He digs around in his drawer for a moment and eventually pulls out the shirt in question.

He turns off his lamp and walks back to the futon, handing his shirt to Tohru. She lets his blanket fall—and it's a bit scary to not have anything covering her chest, but it also feels… _nice_. How she doesn't have to hide herself from Kyo, in this way or any other. It's safe.

She slips the shirt over her head, and she's struck by how soft the cotton is against her skin. It's a bit oversized, like being enveloped in a feeling that's bigger than herself. She sees Kyo's cheeks go pink, and it delights her.

"Do I look alright in it?" she teases.

Kyo cracks a lopsided grin. "Yeah, but you looked alright with nothing on, too."

Tohru flushes. "I'm glad you think so… and so did you."

And now Kyo's face turns bright red, his smirk wiped clean off his face. "Oh… well. Thanks."

She freezes, and her eyes dart to the floor. "Not that I was staring at you! Well, not that I _wasn't_ looking, either, or that I wouldn't want to, but only if you didn't mind that—and if you _did_ mind it, I definitely wouldn't again, and if I made you uncomfortable ever, I'd want you to tell me, and—"

"Tohru," he says, and her babbling ends with him leaning down and kissing her. He cups her face even after he breaks away, and his fingers curl lightly against her jawline. "I don't care if you see me, or look at me, or whatever. It doesn't bug me."

"Okay," Tohru says, dazed as she rests her hands on top of his. "I'm glad. I like it when you look at me, too."

Kyo snorts. "I'll keep that in mind," he says softly. He chucks her on the forehead with his fist, and it makes her laugh as he pulls up the corner of the futon. She lays back down as he climbs in with her, and it feels so _new._ They shift and wriggle and squirm until they're both comfortable, until he presses a kiss to her hairline and she's nestled in his arms—and it seems like they've done something right.

_Is she allowed to do that, though?_

Kyo breathes easily, ruffling Tohru's bangs with each gentle exhale. She feels his pulse where her hand rests against his chest. It's almost like she can feel it throughout her entire body when she's this close to him, can feel his heart beating slow and steady—and she loves that she can _feel_ him in this way that she never could before. She holds onto him as tightly as she can.

"Kyo-kun?"

"Yeah?" he says into her hair.

"I love you."

Kyo's arms curl more snugly around her. "I love you, too," he says, his hand splaying against the small of her back.

His breathing slows as he dozes off, but Tohru's mind races.

They _love_ each other—it's not just some poorly-kept secret anymore. They've gone on dates, and they're moving away together after graduation, and they've done this now, too. They're… they're—

_Are they?_

Tohru squeezes at Kyo's arm, and she feels him jolt against her—she feels bad about waking him, but it also makes her smile, to wonder if he can fall asleep easier now that she's by his side.

When he doesn't stir further, she whispers, "Kyo-kun?"

"Huh?" he murmurs.

"I… what are we?"

His brow furrows, his eyes still closed. "What?"

"I don't know, I was just... wondering," she says anxiously, tracing patterns with her finger along his shirt. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have woken you up."

"I mean. We're together." Kyo looks more awake now. "Aren't we?"

"Of course!" Tohru looks at him with wide eyes. "I told you, I _love_ you, Kyo-kun. I want… I want to be with you forever."

His sleepy smile could light up the room. "Isn't that your answer, then?"

"I guess so… but." She feels so silly even saying it. "I don't know what to call it… what I should call you."

Kyo shrugs. "I'll be honest. That's not really what's been on my mind the last few hours."

"Oh." Tohru's cheeks heat up, still overwhelmed and giddy. "Right. That makes sense." She's ready to shut her eyes and end the conversation, knows it was stupid to even bring it up. But she hears Kyo's voice again, quiet and low in the night.

"Do you not like the normal ones…? Like, boyfriend and girlfriend?"

She shakes her head. "No, I _like_ them, but… it's more than that, isn't it?"

"Partner, then? Or something?"

"No…"

"Fuckbuddies?"

" _Kyo-kun!"_

"It was a joke," he laughs. "I promise."

"Sure. Of course." Tohru rolls her eyes. "Do you like… fiancé?"

" _Oh_ ," Kyo says, and she sees his eyes widen in the night, sees his face turn crimson. She backpedals.

" _Sorry,_ sorry, it's probably too soon for that—I don't even know why I said it—"

"No, stop," he says, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her fingers. "I mean… I guess that one is true, isn't it? I didn't ask you the right way, but that's... what you are to me. Right?"

"Of course," she says, suddenly flushed and happy. "And you're mine." She leans up and presses her lips to his, and they stay like that for a long time, and their hands roam nervously as they learn each other more with every passing minute. And the word pales in comparison to this moment, to them moving against each other in perfect time.

Tohru breaks away when she has an idea.

"What about lover?"

Kyo makes a face. " _Tohru…_ "

"What?"

"I fucking hate that word."

Tohru blinks. " _Why?_ I think it's sweet."

"I don't know, it's just gross."

She doesn't miss the pink that shades his cheeks, and it's so _boyish_ that it makes her laugh. They've grown up so much together, but sometimes she thinks they'll always be like this, too—always a bit like two little kids.

She tries to stifle her giggles, not wanting to wake the whole house. "Kyo-kun, that's adorable."

"No it isn't."

"If you say so," she smiles, kissing him on the cheek before pressing her face back into the crook of his neck. She feels his warmth wash over her, and she thinks that maybe there aren't enough words in the entire world to say how she feels about him.

Even with nothing to say, they breathe to the same rhythm as they fall asleep. And she couldn't care less about putting a name on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am a barista now but my heart still burns for kyoru above all. thank u so much for reading!! xoxo
> 
> as mentioned above, this was inspired a lot by ...off by heart by city and colour, and the last paragraph includes a brief reference to that song if you happen to spot it :’))
> 
> if you'd like to [reblog](https://lesbian-kyoru.tumblr.com/post/632827096504451072/sweet-disposition-chapter-4-lover-relationship) <3


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